Redhawk Caldera i wait on clip-clops.

Fin laid quietly at the mouth of the little den that Peregrine had set her up in once she'd finally returned home. Her gaze was glued intently out into the wilderness, never swaying from some spot in the distance. Though there was no one around and not a thing of interest happening near her, a small, eager smile was plastered on her silver and alabaster muzzle. Her eyes danced with happy anticipation and her plush tail tapped a constant beat upon the cold ground beside her haunches as she wagged it endlessly.

Only Finley knew what she was so excited about, but I'll let you in on the secret as well. She was anticipating the appearance of her dear friend @Fox at any moment. They had no prior plans, and no one had told Fin to expect her. Fin didn't even know if Fox was even aware of her return. But she waited loyally and patiently, just like my dog does at 5:30 every evening on the end of the couch, staring expectantly out the window even when I don't get home until late.

Word got to Fox quickly enough about Finley's return to Redhawk Caldera. Which made sense, considering Peregrine had been the one to greet their Beta when she had made her homecoming. It took Fox all of one day to finally make her way over to her friend's humble abode, but she did not arrive empty-mouthed. Clamped firmly between her jaws was a fresh squirrel intended for her new Beta.

When she got close, Fox noted Finley's outline against the dullness of the rest of the world, and she could have sworn that the whole day got a good deal brighter when she spotted her friend. Hustling over, Fox spat out the squirrel at Finley's feet and began to lap at the Beta's cheeks. It was good to have her home.

And just as Fin suspected, a wild Fox suddenly appeared, spurring Fin's tail to wag even harder until her entire body was wriggling. She began to whine and squeak happily as Fox approached and they gave eachother friendly happy wolfy greetings by sniffing each other wildly and planting wolfy kisses on each other's faces.

"Look, look!" Fin barked happily, "I'm not dead! See!?" To prove it, she sucked in a few deep breaths and exhaled. Breathing meant being alive! In truth, it hurt like hell to do so. Her back really was NOT a fan of her moving too much, but Fin was stubborn even when it came to feeling pain.

Fox took a step back when Finley spoke, and she grinned a wide grin. “The food is for you,” she said, “I know all about being an invalid, believe me.” Not so long ago, Fox had been all but bedridden in Redhawk Caldera. She had not been a fan, and she could not imagine that Finley had been very thrilled about it, either. They were rough and tumble girls, made for action and adventure... not laying around being waited on night and day.

“Peregrine didn’t give me all the details, and I’d rather hear it from you anyway… so what the hell happened?” Fox asked, folding her legs beneath her so she was sitting down. She kind of expected this to be a long story, and in all honesty, she was hoping for one.

Lazy Stevie is lazy lululululul

"Mmmmm I do love me some food, thanks," Fin replied just before sinking her teeth into the soft flesh. She pulled off strip after strip of meat as Fox settled in beside her, chewing and swallowing greedily to feed her aching belly. She drew her attention back to Fox as she asked to hear the story, and though Fin found herself irritated at being asked it so many times, she found she wasn't at all bothered about getting to retell it to her friend.

"Well, let's do this right," Fin replied with a nod, "Settle on in, little Fox, and I'll tell you the tale." She motioned with her muzzle for the alpha to lay down and make herself comfortable before she started. "Once upon a time, there was a super bitchy bear... I named her BitchBear..." And then she went on to provide her with her account of what had happened that day with the bear, making sure not to miss a single detail until finally... "And then I woke up in Blue's den. Apparently I'd had a bad fever for a while, but Blue's a damn magician, so you can guess how that ended."

Oops, I forgot to mention that Fox has a huge healing gash on her face from the cougar.

Fox stuck her tongue out, momentarily opening the scab that had formed on the side of her face from the cougar's sharp claws. In fact, she had more or less forgotten about it up until that point and was somewhat surprised that Finley hadn't said a word about it. But perhaps she was too preoccupied with her own, much more serious, injuries. Fox didn't mind, though, and slid down to recline as Finley recounted the tale of the big bad Bitch Bear. Or whatever it was. Was a female bear really called a bitch, or some other word? Fox figured it probably didn't even matter.

When her friend and Beta finished, Fox couldn't help but store away the most important bits for later use. It was another tale of Redhawk Caldera that she could add to her collection, along with the cougar, the break from Blacktail Deer Plateau, and her own story that spanned all the way back to Swiftcurrent Creek. That felt like an eternity ago, and Fox wondered if this day would feel like that in six months time. By then, she would surely have little ones underfoot.

“I’m so glad you’re home,” she said at last, “and not dead.” "Safe" felt like too much of a heavy word, especially considering that the caldera had already faced a large predator and Fox had managed to tumble down one of the slopes on her very first day here.

*waves magic wand*

Finley gave a pleased smile at Fox's comments. "I'm pretty happy to not be dead myself," she said with a cheeky grin, "And even more glad to finally be home." She cast a glance to their surroundings, taking a moment to simply admire the landscape. She'd thought the place a little bland at first (only because her imagination had created such extravagant ideas of it in her head before she'd seen it), but now that she'd had to spend time away, it was more beautiful than ever.

When finally she turned back to Fox, she thought she'd finally address the thing that had been nagging at her since Fox had first arrived. "So..... Are we talking about what's up with your face, or should I keep pretending I don't see it?" Fin asked, quirking a brow. The livid cut was impossible to miss, but she hadn't been too certain on how to bring it up, or if she ought to bring it up at all. Maybe the story was embarrassing and Fox was ashamed of her injury, in which case she probably should have continued to pretend it didn't exist... A little late for that thought, though...

As if reading her thoughts, Finley finally spoke of the gash that blazed across from Fox's ear to her muzzle, leaving an unsightly and garish scab in its place. “I thought you might ask,” Fox said with a wry grin. “While you were off fighting bears, I was here fighting cougars. Managed to get a good claw in, eh?” she said, running her tongue over the salty scab. Peregrine had been good about cleaning it regularly, and Fox had no doubt that it would heal without any issue. Her dear Perry had been heavy with guilt when he had come home to find her like this, but she made no mention of such things to Finley. Perry was home now, and Fox was satisfied with that.

“Ashton and Elwood helped to chase it off,” she went on, glancing at Finley as if pondering something. “Have you met Elwood? Seems like he might be your type.” Fox had never been a matchmaker before, but there was a first for everything, wasn't there? Considering Finley was one of her (best?) friends, there was no harm in giving the girl a nudge in what she thought might be the right direction.

The story she told would probably seem frightening to some, but Fin simply found it impressive. "Nice!" she replied with a proud nod, "That'll look awesome when it scars up. I'm hoping I'll get a nice one out of mine too." She rolled her shoulder to glance backwards over it at the long gashes that ran along her back. The skin was busily knitting itself back together after being re-torn apart by her journey, which made her even more hopeful that the mark would be with her forever. Rough and tumble girls indeed.

Fox continued her story, ending it with a remark that made Fin's ears flatten against her head in displeasure. "All men should fucking die," she replied almost instantly in a sour, dead sort of tone. Her expression softened after a beat as she realized how very harsh the comment and sudden change of her attitude had been, and she gave Fox an apologetic flash of a smile before smashing her head down between her paws with a pout.

Finley's reaction to her story was welcome, and Fox grinned a toothy grin in response. However, the tone took a sharp dive straight to the center of the earth when Fox mentioned Elwood, and she quirked a brow. What could possibly make Finley feel so decidedly venomous toward all men? "Eh?" she asked, obviously taken aback by this new development. "Something happen?" she questioned gently. Finley was her friend, after all, and Fox was fiercely protective of those she loved. If anybody had upset Finley, they would pay whatever price Fox deemed appropriate.

Fin didn't want to talk about what had happened with Finn. It was still so fresh, and talking about it seemed to give it all more power than she was willing to admit it had. But of course, Fox asked, and Fin did not like to refuse anything to her best friend. She gave a pitiful little whimper and rolled more onto her uninjured side, casting a dark, pouting glance at the ridge to their flank, her head not budging from its place upon the ground.

"So... I kinda had this.. thing... with Finn," the Blackthorn replied slowly as though each word was a thumbtack she was delicately spitting out of her mouth, "I mean, nothing ever happened, but it felt like it was going somewhere. Then he didn't come to the Caldera when we moved. And I thought maybe he would visit eventually to, y'know... talk to me about stuff, but I didn't see him till he came to visit while I was at the Plateau." A vision of his heartbroken face flashed into her mind, causing her to give a frustrated sigh. "It... went poorly," Fin finished lamely.

A younger Fox would have retorted with, "At least he didn't die on you." The older, slightly more mature Fox pondered on Finley's confession for a moment, then formed reassuring words. “Sounds like he wasn’t really committed,” Fox replied, as much warmth as she could muster in her voice. She had half a mind to march her little red butt over to the plateau and smack the shit out of Finn, but she knew now that her purpose was here in the caldera. It was here that she would raise her children, and raising conflict would not help them in the long run.

“Better things come along,” Fox assured her, although she did not consider Peregrine "better" than Haunter, he was certainly better than the plethora of fools she had come into contact with outside of those two. In all reality, she likely would not have thought so highly of Haunter if he had not died. By passing away, he had failed to do anything horrendous to her, and her image of him would be forever untarnished. “Maybe better things named Elwood,” she teased with a smirk.

Fin turned her head to face Fox as her friend consoled her. She gave a little smile that faltered after a moment as she thought back on her conversation with Finn. "Ain't that the truth..." she replied, "Not once did he ever even tell me how he felt. He just kept.. dancing around it and acting all hurt as though I'm supposed to make all the assumptions and do all the work." It was frustrating as hell. As much as she'd felt for him, she couldn't deny that she wanted someone who would fight for her, not be terrified of even admitting she was something that he wanted.

In response to her remark about Elwood, Fin rolled her eyes but gave a soft laugh nonetheless. "I did meet him yesterday," she admitted, "He's cute.. Funny... Smart... In other words extremely dangerous and needs to be thrown into a pit and locked up forever ASAP." She wasn't about to be sucked into another romance. Not when she was still bleeding from the first.

Fox wouldn't force Finley into anything, but she certainly would poke, prod, and nudge her in the right direction. Elwood was a fine young lad, and Fox thought they'd make a cute couple. Besides, the thought of Finley raising children alongside her—well, a year from now—seemed rather fitting. Fox was, of course, getting ahead of herself. A whole hell of a lot could change in a year, and who knew where Fox or Finley would be by then. Fox completely planned on being here, in Redhawk Caldera, but she had also planned on staying in Swiftcurrent Creek for the rest of her days when she had become their Alpha.

The red girl chuckled when Finley described Elwood and insinuated that he should be taken far, far away. "Ah, so you have met him!" Fox said, grinning all the while. "I guess it can only be fate that brought you two together." Fox faked a swoon, making oogly eyes at her friend. She was teasing, of course, but it was too much fun to just stop doing it.

Fox seemed to be pretty darn determined about Elwood, which Fin could appreciate despite herself. They had hit it off pretty spectacularly, but Fin was far too gun shy at that point to put much thought into it. Maybe he was a game she could play in the future, but for the time being, she had no intention of getting involved in anything that would require her heart.

"Well be sure to let fate know that it has shitty timing," she replied with a smile, rolling her eyes and batting gently at her friend's shoulder with a paw to try and urge her to drop that dopey look on her face. "What is that face anyway?" she decided then to tease with a laugh, "those your bedroom eyes are something? That the look you give Peregrine to seduce him to come to your magical lady playground?"

Fox exaggerated the look, making an even more goofy face than she'd been making before. “Oh yeah,” she replied, “you know you like it.” "Lady magical playground" was probably the most hilarious phrase she had ever heard to refer to, well, her lady bits. She'd have to echo it back to Peregrine at some point, just for the giggle-factor. Fox rolled over onto her side, stretching when she was stable. If Finley wanted to go after Elwood, that was her choice, but Fox had made it clear that she approved.

Rolling onto her back, Fox splayed out lazily on the soft earth. She had forgotten how pleasant it was to have a good friend around, but Finley had reminded her of that now that she had returned. Bringing in some of the light-heartedness to the caldera was good, especially considering how cold Fox was to outsiders. Without really meaning to, Fox's lids became heavy, her breathing slowed, and she started to doze off.

Fin had often found herself more exhausted than usual since her injury, so when Fox dozed off on her, she didn't attempt to put a stop to it--simply allowed her to do so while resting her own head down against her paws. She peered at the woman's happy, peacefully sleeping face and couldn't help but smile. It was nice to be back with her family again. Gently, she crawled forward and snuggled up against her friend, shutting her eyes and letting sleep take her away as well.